Update on Research into the Genetic Cause of Hereditary Ataxia in American Staffordshire Terriers â€“ January 2008

This is a brief update to let you know that we are continuing to make good progress with our research into Hereditary Ataxia in American Staffordshire Terriers. The last update I gave reported that we had established linkage between the disease and a limited region of a chromosome. This region was large, too large to identify one particular gene that could be causing the disease. In order to address this problem, we submitted a grant proposal to the AKC Canine Health Foundation requesting funding for the next step in our research â€“ fine mapping of the linked region and sequencing of candidate genes. The grant has been approved and we expect to have the funding available to us shortly. In the interim, with the support of the STCA, we have genotyped a much larger number of dogs (nearly 100) and added in closely spaced markers over the linked region. As a result, we have been able to narrow down the area of linkage and we are getting ready to sequence one particular gene that could be linked to the disease. Over the next year we will work on the possible candidate genes in the linked region with the hope that they will lead us to the causative mutation and hence to a genetic test. If you know anyone with an affected dog, we would love to hear from them, and if you would like to make a donation to support the research, please contact Faith Beiser. Thank you all for your continued support and we hope that 2008 will be a productive year.

ROFL. Sorry. LOL I thought it was something new. Glad you caught that.lol and YES, I read this post. I was doing a bunch of things and just did it *beep* it.lol I always read what you post. Well, most of the time.

I would appreciate pedigrees of the dogs below. I have Bo Tie & Tux and Sentinals Just E Zee, but I would really appreciate the rest.

shadyblueamstaffs wrote:Ruffian Bo Tie & Tux's was affected.

Ruffian Bo Tie & Tux's X Sentinel's Just E Zee This breeding produced alot of ataxic offspring. Every puppy was either an affected or a carrier, depending on if just e zee was an affected or carrier.

Ruffian Blue bandit of york is one of the offspring, and he was either affected or a carrier. If Sentinel's Just E Zee was affected as well, then all the offspring would be affecteds from that breeding. She was at the very least a carrier.

Just a quick note.... My precious female AmStaff Cinnamon didn't develop signs until the later years of her life 6/7. The onset was very quick and her ability to walk deteriorated very fast. The onset can even take up to 8 years in some dogs, so be careful when breeding. They are such an awesome breed... Good Luck in keeping the bloodlines Healthy!!!

I've been thinking about this question for some time now, but after seeing a post on Facebook this morning I finally really wanted to know people's thoughts.

How far will you let "ataxia clear by parentage" go before a puppy gets tested? For example, if all the grandparents have certificates saying they are clear, but the parents don't, is that enough for you?

Many ataxia tests are done by cheek swab. This leaves slight room for cross-contamination and false results. Optigen even has on their website that the test is 99% accurate. Based on that, if we have tested 500 dogs then statistically 5 of those dogs have inaccurate results.

Then, today, I saw someone post on Facebook that they know of someone using a clear dogs sample for other dogs in their kennel who may not be clear. I guess I am a little naive because it never occured to me that people would do something like this, (I would think it would eventually catch up with someone) but I imagine the case on Facebook wasn't the first.

So is "clear by parentage" enough for you and for how many generations?

I also want to make this comment as well... if a person says their dog is ataxia clear, and it isn't on the OFA website, it doesn't mean the test was not done. Registering your results with OFA is completely optional.

houseofancients wrote:Clear by parentage would only be enough for me when i see the actual test reports + parent animals myself , so i would be able to check their chip.

Also when planning a breeding , i would like to see both animals tested, for at least the next couple of year, testing still is human work, and where humans work, mistakes are made, simple is that.

also i would like to emphasize that i don't see anything wrong in using a carrier in a breeding, just be smart, and test the offspring, and do it in peace with oneself!

let me clearify what i mean with "do it in peace with oneself "
make sure YOU feeling satisfied with what you are doing.
so make sure you can check a box for every question you have about the breeding for your own mind.
People will allways try to bash or put you down, just ignore them, and do right by yourself!
always take constructive critasism seriously, but allways do what you think is right

life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get

The 2nd time Zima was bred, she was bred to a dog named Ch Sair's Cool Breeze Kachina "Otter" Otter was sired by Ch Scott's Boy Wonder, and out of Ch Blue Moon Turn On The Redlit. I was told that he was pretty heavily Woods bred, but I DONT know that for a fact. Does anyone out there recognise this pedigree or the kennel names on this dog?

Just as a note, Alyssa Siar and her husband Jake owned Otter, I showed with them at just about every show back in the mid 90's. Alyssa is around the AmStaff ring a lot still, (here in the SE...just saw her in Greensboro and Winston Salem NC), and although she doesn't breed AmStaffs anymore, I'm sure she would be more than happy to supply any info she might have if asked.

From January 25 - 29, Optigen will be offering a 20% discount on the NCL-A test, plus an additional 5% off for registering on line for a total of 25% off the regular test price.
Go to the Optigen website www.optigen.com and register for the test using code BRR10125. Once you register, you will have 30 days to submit your test sample to Optigen.

How disturbing that people are screwing with the testing process already...it is sad how the moronic few ruin it for everyone.

I just did Duchess on Monday. My vet said that we should do blood as sometimes the swabs get sent back, due to contamination or lack of adequate cells. The vet was very thorough about scanning Duchess' chip first and marking everything with her Reg#, etc. I wondered though when I read the directions on the Optigen site that you could collect at home and send it in...people are too scandalous for that.

The post office gave me *beep* about shipping the sample, but it is on its way!

I don't know what to trust anymore...clear by parentage to me is at some point going to need to be tested again. It will be interesting to see what carriers crops up in the clear by parentage group...that will start to tell the tale about who fibbed in their samples.

For me its very very possible that all my dogs health testing.also are not my breeding Amstaffs.
Ataxie ist very sad AND all knows that.and any breeder bred with not health testing-dogs that very sad!!!!